European Starlings And How They Have And Will Affect The Ecosystem
Ever since the 1800's European Starlings have been a big problem to all of the ecosystems in the United States. They first evolved in Europe (obviously) but were brought over by Shakespearean enthusiasts who wanted to introduce all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to the US. The attempt failed the first couple of times, but it succeeded eventually. Now, the European Starling has become one of the most serious invasive species that affects the US. Even though it eats harmful bugs it is a pest in itself. It destroys crops and drives other birds out of their natural habitat. In North Carolina, it drives other birds such as woodpeckers out of their nests and kills the eggs/fledglings. They are also carriers of several food-borne diseases that are harmful to humans such as Salmonella and E. Coli. They transfer these from farm to farm. It is one of the only avian invasive species in North America.
Question:
I would like to work out how much impact the European Starling has had in the Triangle area, and extrapolate it's future from there.
Hypothesis:
I think that the European Starling will have a relatively stable population over all of the data set and continue to have the same stable population if extrapolated.
Independent Variable:
My independent is time because I am measuring over 10 years and the months in said years
Dependent Variable:
My dependent variable is average population of birds.
Method:
I will conduct my experiment by studying the average # of sightings of the birds there have been in North Carolina from looking at Ebird and other online bird sighting databases. I will look at the last 10 years. I will have 12 data points per year because I will look at the data from the year divided between the twelve. Then I will total the averages in each year, graph it, then draw a conclusion.
Data:
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
2005
19
7
8
7
7
7
11
5
10
14
5
37
137
2006
10
15
6
7
4
9
10
24
56
56
15
36
248
2007
29
45
12
7
6
10
23
22
17
20
29
58
278
2008
79
17
11
7
7
10
18
12
14
27
61
29
292
2009
37
13
10
7
8
12
63
32
18
16
23
29
268
2010
37
33
15
8
8
19
22
87
34
23
38
41
365
2011
34
17
15
9
6
17
23
45
23
40
52
48
329
2012
36
25
11
30
10
15
20
38
24
26
59
92
386
2013
47
18
17
7
7
13
16
36
23
25
31
34
274
2014
119
20
15
7
6
16
24
43
27
20
42
44
383
Discussion:
Note: While I was originally going to study the European Starling's average #s all the way back to 1950, there was insufficient data to do anything earlier than 2005. I changed my method slightly to reflect this. In the 120 data points that I collected, there were definite patterns within them. January, August and December had high averages, whereas April had almost constant low averages. I found that since 2005, there had been a definite increase in the population. It has fluctuated, but on the whole it went up. This proves my first hypothesis incorrect because it has increased instead of being constant as I thought it might be. If I were to do this experiment again, I would try to find some reliable data that goes farther back so I can compare it more. This would give me a wider range of data to observe patterns.
Bibliography
Chow, James. "Critter Catalog." BioKIDS. Ed. Carl Johanssen. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. "Common, or Eurasian or European, Starling." Encyclopedia of Animals. N.p.: Great Neck, 2006. 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. "European Starling." , Identification, All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. "European Starling." European Starling. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. "Invasive Species: Animals - European Starling (Sturnus Vulgaris)." National Invasive Species Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. "The Shakespeare Fanatic Who Introduced All of the Bard's Birds to America." Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard, n.d. Web. Sohl, Terry H. "European Starling." - South Dakota Birds and Birding. Terry Sohl, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
European Starlings And How They Have And Will Affect The Ecosystem
Ever since the 1800's European Starlings have been a big problem to all of the ecosystems in the United States. They first evolved in Europe (obviously) but were brought over by Shakespearean enthusiasts who wanted to introduce all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to the US. The attempt failed the first couple of times, but it succeeded eventually. Now, the European Starling has become one of the most serious invasive species that affects the US. Even though it eats harmful bugs it is a pest in itself. It destroys crops and drives other birds out of their natural habitat. In North Carolina, it drives other birds such as woodpeckers out of their nests and kills the eggs/fledglings. They are also carriers of several food-borne diseases that are harmful to humans such as Salmonella and E. Coli. They transfer these from farm to farm. It is one of the only avian invasive species in North America.Question:
I would like to work out how much impact the European Starling has had in the Triangle area, and extrapolate it's future from there.Hypothesis:
I think that the European Starling will have a relatively stable population over all of the data set and continue to have the same stable population if extrapolated.Independent Variable:
My independent is time because I am measuring over 10 years and the months in said yearsDependent Variable:
My dependent variable is average population of birds.Method:
I will conduct my experiment by studying the average # of sightings of the birds there have been in North Carolina from looking at Ebird and other online bird sighting databases. I will look at the last 10 years. I will have 12 data points per year because I will look at the data from the year divided between the twelve. Then I will total the averages in each year, graph it, then draw a conclusion.Data:
Discussion:
Note: While I was originally going to study the European Starling's average #s all the way back to 1950, there was insufficient data to do anything earlier than 2005. I changed my method slightly to reflect this.In the 120 data points that I collected, there were definite patterns within them. January, August and December had high averages, whereas April had almost constant low averages. I found that since 2005, there had been a definite increase in the population. It has fluctuated, but on the whole it went up. This proves my first hypothesis incorrect because it has increased instead of being constant as I thought it might be. If I were to do this experiment again, I would try to find some reliable data that goes farther back so I can compare it more. This would give me a wider range of data to observe patterns.
Bibliography
Chow, James. "Critter Catalog." BioKIDS. Ed. Carl Johanssen. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015."Common, or Eurasian or European, Starling." Encyclopedia of Animals. N.p.: Great Neck, 2006. 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
"European Starling." , Identification, All About Birds. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
"European Starling." European Starling. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
"Invasive Species: Animals - European Starling (Sturnus Vulgaris)." National Invasive Species Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
"The Shakespeare Fanatic Who Introduced All of the Bard's Birds to America." Pacific Standard. Pacific Standard, n.d. Web.
Sohl, Terry H. "European Starling." - South Dakota Birds and Birding. Terry Sohl, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Video of a murmuration of starlings
https://youtu.be/rRdmnHIuVM8